Irish Guards

The Irish Guards was a foot guards regiment of the British Army that was founded on 1 April 1900. Queen Victoria founded the Irish Guards in recognition of the service of the Irish soldiers during the Second Boer War, and the Guards were deployed to France at the very start of World War I, fighting there for the rest of the war. After Irish independence in 1922, the Irish Guards were recruited from Northern Ireland and Irish neighborhoods in England, and some people from the country of Ireland actually enlisted in the regiment, ignoring the Defense Act (which stated that it was illegal to induce, procure, or persuade enlistment of any Irish citizen into the military of another state). The regiment fought in Norway, France, North Africa, and Italy, returning to France after D-Day and fighting in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany afterwards. On 29 August 1944, the Irish Guards crossed the Seine River and advanced into Belgium with the Guards Armored Division, and the guards led the vanguard of British XXX Corps in their advance towards Arnhem. The regiment was delayed due to heavy resistance, and it was ultimately held back. After the war, the regiment was reduced to a single battlaion, which was sent to Palestine, the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt, West Germany, Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, fighting in The Troubles, the Kosovo War, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War. In 2011, the Queen's grandson Prince William, Duke of Cambridge became the regiment's colonel, and he married while wearing the regiment's uniform.